It has been a summer here. It was a lot of work early on to be part of a garden tour and then life just sort of took over and we had a death in the family, and just a lot of stuff going on and I lost my garden mojo for a while. It was like I couldn’t find my center. Then I was catching up on watching Gardeners World on BritBox and I saw this:

I had gotten so stuck in on myself and things going on all around me, that I was losing my way in my very own garden, which is my greatest joy. This lovely little old lady in England, whom they interviewed, made me remember why I garden. And how happy it makes me.

So bit by bit when it’s not stinking hot and humid, I’ve been back in the garden doing bits of things here and there, and just sitting and taking it all in.

Gardening can be frustrating at times. And sometimes you can’t see the beauty around you all you see are the things you need to take care of and tend to and trim and weed. And the weeds this year have been extra special.

But as I stop to look around and give everything one last foliar feed before the end of the summer, all these things are popping out at me like the dinner, plate, hibiscus and roses are starting to rejuvenate as the heat abates slightly.

And there are so many butterflies and hummingbirds, too! And hummingbirds are fascinating to be in the garden with because they are somewhat fearless little creatures. I am lousy at catching them on camera, but I love to watch them, and we have two pairs of mated pileated woodpeckers, which are giant prehistoric looking woodpeckers and also wonderful to watch.

We had stopped feeding the birds for a while, because there are a lot of natural food sources right now and you want to make sure that they can forage on their own. And that doesn’t stop the birds from being here right now the cat birds seem to be everywhere and my little Carolina wrens, which I love so very much.

Today I gave myself three hours to feed plants and trim up some things and cut a giant florist bucket full of hydrangeas for my front porch. For as many flowers as I grow I don’t actually cut them all the time which is kind of funny because I love to see them.

As I’ve started to relocate my center, metaphorically speaking, I’m starting to look around and figure out where things that come for fall planting will go.

A few hundred more crocus bulbs for the lawn. I don’t have much long left and I don’t know that I have it in me at this point to go all meadow for the front lawn and I don’t know that it would go with my garden so I have been planting a lot of bulbs in the lawn.

I also will be adding, of course, to my flowerbeds, more heirloom, daffodil bulbs, which are a bit of an obsession at this point. And lilies. Oriental and Asiatic, lilies, and daylilies with, aren’t actually lilies at all.

Two more roses will find their way to me in mid September. Both are old roses because they seem to be faring the best overall. I am also keeping an eye out for any more outbreaks of Rosie rosette disease and have my fingers crossed that it was just that one David Austin rose that got infected. It was England’s rose which is so sad because it was spectacular.

I’ve been moving some things around in the greenhouse as well. I had some herbs growing in there and they were getting a little too hot. So now they’re sitting out on the deck rail . When the herbs and chili peppers finish in the greenhouse, I will next plant my garlic and shallots for the fall and winter. The tomatoes are finally starting to come in and they taste pretty good and the potatoes are almost ready to harvest. I grow my potatoes in giant containers because I don’t have enough room in the ground.

Sometimes, when life gets in the way, you look at your garden, and all you see are chores. And you forget the joy and you can never forget the joy, and when the world is being simply too much, you go out in your garden and you sit and you let nature take you by the hand and show you what is truly beautiful on this planet. And then Mother Nature reminds you that you helped create this magic in a garden.

Anyway, how does your garden grow? Can you believe it is almost September?

Happy gardening!